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From: foster@ted.cs.uidaho.edu
Newsgroups: comp.edu,sci.math,sci.misc,ut.general,uw.general,uw.math.grad,york.general
Subject: Re: Subtle Math Questions
Message-ID: <1991Apr22.221923.2370@groucho>
Date: 22 Apr 91 22:19:23 GMT
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Normally, this posting would have been a private response.  But I have a VERY
GOOD reason for proposing that we ALL see such a list of questions.

Math education in this country is very poor.  In part, this is because
teachers at lower levels are either not good at math or do not pursue
math very deeply.  I do not mean this perjoratively.  They have little 
incentive to be good at math.

I conclude that it is up to US, we favored few, to tell the students what math
is and why it's interesting.  YES, I am proposing we volunteer some time in 
the local schools.  

One great way to do a one-class talk on math is to ask some little questions
which should bug the heck out of a student who really wants to master math.
Then have a discussion about the problem.  The "Subtle Math Questions"
would be great to use in this way.

Note that even the most ardent of us are probably only going to donate a day or
two every now and then.  So we can't expect to actually TEACH much.  But we
can teach the student to ask critical questions and, more importantly, to 
discuss and think about the answers.

James